Donnie watched as Annalise scrolled through the menu, her eyebrows furrowed. He was tempted to tell her not to bother, she always ordered chicken salad so why waste her time looking at the other options? As soon as she closed the menu the waiter appeared at their table, his eagerness to please being some-what irritating. Donnie gave the waiter his order and as predicted Annalise did order a chicken-based meal, albeit not with salad.

"Have the vegetables done something to offend you?" he asked tongue in cheek, and she gave him an inquiring look. "You don't usually eat rice."

"That's not true," she said with a small shake of her head. "I do during the winter. When it's this cold I need more carbohydrates or I lose weight."

"Really?" They'd started dating last winter and he'd never noticed, he'd probably had more important things to pay attention to. "Well, you look amazing, whatever you're doing is working."

"Thank you," she said looking away from him. "But you don't have to compliment me, I'm following this diet for health reasons more than anything else."

Of course, she was. Anna wouldn't do something for aesthetic reasons only, she wasn't remotely concerned about her appearance.

"So Donnie," she said, tilting her head to one side and giving him a hard look. "How have you been? Truthfully. How is the business going?"

"Pretty well as it happens," he said ignoring her first question. "But let's not talk about me, what have you been up to?"

"Oh, this and that." She waved her hand dismissively. "I might go home in the summer to see my family but nothing's set in stone yet."

"You should do that, they must miss you." I would.

"I miss them too." She looked away wistfully and he slowly took a sip of his drink. Maybe they were too different, maybe the obstacles were too great. He was probably being unfair trying to pursue a relationship with her that would take her from all she knew and loved because there was no way he was moving to Deutschland. He knew less than half a dozen German words, and if his aptitude to learning Spanish in high school was anything to go by, he was unlikely to learn many more.

"So have you been seeing anyone?" he asked, thinking there was no point wasting time beating about the bush.

Annalise put her glass down, a slight frown on her face. "That's not your business any more but, yes, I've been seeing people."

"People?" 

She frowned. "One person, that's all."

His good mood evaporated. "So this one person, do you see it going somewhere with him?"

"Not necessarily," she said, tight-lipped. "But I didn't come here to discuss it with you anyway. I thought we were catching up as old friends?"

"Old friends talk about what's going on in their lives," he said not caring if he sounded churlish.

"I know but maybe it's a little soon for us to have conversations like that."

"Whatever."

She scowled at him before returning to her drink, and they sat in an uncomfortable silence. He knew she was waiting for him to apologise but before he could, his phone bleeped. He pulled it out of his pocket thinking that if they were only friends then it was no big deal to quickly read a text message.

Hi, I'm at a loose end next weekend. Fancy getting together?

Chloe had been messaging him all week and he'd probably responded to at least half of them as he contemplated whether or not he should fob her off. He didn't want to think that he was leading her on, and he'd kept his replies non-commital, but he knew that by replying she could easily assume he was interested. He should stop before it got out of hand.

He looked at Annalise, staring indifferently at him, and his thoughts turned to back to Chloe. Blonde, probably dyed, eager, interested, but not making any demands of him. At least, not yet. Maybe he should give her a chance?

That sounds like a plan, he quickly replied, his eyes not leaving Annalise. "So, this one person you've been seeing, what's he like? You can talk to me, I can take it."

Annalise's eyebrows knitted together. "Do you really want to know? I don't want to upset you."

He laughed. "It's okay, it won't upset me."

She gave him a sceptical look. "Fine, he's a friend of my family. He relocated here a few months ago, temporarily that is. He works in international law and his company had a case which required him to be hands-on over here." She shrugged. "I got in touch with him to see if he needed a friendly face to show him around. It's no fun being the foreigner."

Donnie frowned. "I don't see you as a foreigner, I know I tease you-"

"I am a foreigner when I'm here," she said pointedly. "This isn't my country."

"Is that what this is all about? Is that why you want to split up?"

She gave him an exasperated look. "We are split up, and it is because of you, not my because of my nationality. Or yours. You make it sound like you think you are superior."

"What?" He held his hands up. "Seriously Annalise, I don't have some sort of nationalistic superiority complex. I tease you, it's a joke, it's not a reflection on what I think of your nationality." 

"Okay, okay," she said grudgingly. "Apology accepted."

Wait, he wasn't apologising, he was explaining. They were on completely different wavelengths.

Annalise picked up her drink, her eyes scrutinising him over the top of the glass. "So how is work going? Are you keeping busy?"

"Yeah, I am," he said, trying to inject some enthusiasm into his voice. "I've got a job renovating the house of a family friend. I can't take the credit though."

"Of course you can take the credit if you're doing the work."

"I meant I've been calling in favours from family," he admitted sheepishly.

"Doesn't everyone? They want something from you, you want something from them. It's quid pro quo."

"I guess." He still felt uncomfortable though, like he was just another spoilt rich kid riding on his parents' coattails.

She shook her head. "You're too proud and it's holding you back."

He nodded, feeling his phone vibrate again. "Maybe I am proud, in a way," he said sliding his phone out of his pocket. "I want to do this on my own though."

She laughed. "Nobody does it on their own. All these self-made guys. Bullshit. All of them had help from their family or friends, or they broke the law."

"Cynical, much?" he said with his eyebrows raised.

"Realistic."

He glanced down at his phone. It was Chloe, again. Next Saturday? 8 pm at O'Reilly's?

He quickly agreed knowing he wouldn't be seeing Anna any time soon.

"Is everything okay, you seem distracted?" Annalise said as he shoved his phone back in his pocket.

"Yeah, fine," he said giving her his full attention.

"Good." She gave him a long look. "I do wish you well and I do hope we'll continue to be friends."

"Just friends?"

She wrinkled her nose. "I think we might work better as friends."

"And if I want something more?" There was no if about it.

She let out a heavy sigh. "Donnie more was not working for us. At least, it wasn't working for me."

"Ouch." He held his hand to his heart. "You can't blame me for trying."

She looked away. "And as I said, you need to work on yourself. But not for me, for you. You need to be the best version of yourself that you can be."

"And if I do that?"

She gave him a tight smile. "Then we'll see."

He nodded, his phone vibrated again, and less concerned with Annalise, he read the message.

Fab, can't wait.

He sent a thumbs-up emoji, totally cringe but he didn't care. Maybe he should stick with girls who were more easy-going?

                                            ~~~